By Your Side
by waterlily12
Summary: Aisha lived a normal (lonely) life... until she met a strange girl and a even stranger redhead dressed as a knight from some fantasy in an antique store. He kept addressing her as 'Princess', which made her wonder if he was crazy. Since then, she keeps meeting one stranger after another - all weird - and her life has been turned completely upside down. ElsAi
1. Chapter 1 - Strangers

**Haha! New fanfic instead of updating the old ones! /shot**

 **Anyways, couldn't help but write this one down and it just got longer and longer and - you get the point. And hey, I'm also writing the next chapter for Flip: Tail's End right now so expect that t o update... soon... (my definition of soon)**

 **I'm also busy with the actual game itself...**

 **Classes that currently spotlighted(For appearance purposes):**

 **Aisha - EM (With glasses!)**

 **Elsword - LK**

 **Rena- WS**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword.**

* * *

 _"Hurry, this way!" The weary red haired knight pleaded urgently, taking the small hands of a girl with a hood, though her lavender hair was faintly visible as it rested past her shoulders. She was clocked from neck to toes while her face was scratched up as if she had been in a fight. Well, it wasn't that far away from the truth._

 _Worried filled eyes glued themselves to the beautiful red hair of her knight's back... And the scene disappeared as if it was just an illusion._

 _..._

 _"Wait, what are you doing?! Unbind me this instant! We have no time for this, we need to escape!"_

 _"I'm sorry, my knight."_

 _"No… No you can't! I have to stay by your side Princess! **Princess**!"_

* * *

Purple eyes fluttered open as the figure bolted up from her sleep in a state of shock. Her breathing was heavy and sweat was present on her face as if she had just came back from running.

"W-what…?" The purplette breathed, clutching on the hem of her blanket; her eyes widening still from the dream she just had. She reached for a pair of glasses resting on the nightstand beside her bed and looked around, checking just to make sure she was in her room. Moonlight seeping through her windows, illuminating her room in a rays of light of a slight bluish color. Seeing her familiar surrounding calmed her down quite effectively, though she didn't know what she was worked up over in the first place.

"What a… weird dream." The girl mumbled to herself, then looked to the tome on the nightstand and shook her head subtly. "Shouldn't have stayed up reading that book..."

She decided to go back to her slumber, but ended up _trying_ to go to sleep for the duration of the night. Before she knew it, morning was upon her.

...

"Aisha?" Someone called from beyond the purplette's room. When no response came, the person increased their volume. "AISHA!"

"Ngh..." Said girl mumbled, giving a wince as she finally took notice of the sunlight directed at her lidded eyes. Slowly, but surely, Aisha woke up from the horrible night's effort to sleep.

Aisha pushed herself up, slow as a turtle, and rubbed her eyes with one hand while the other reached for her glasses that she set back down last night.

A knock came at the door, followed by the knob turning. Once opened, a middle-aged woman with the same colored hair as Aisha entered. Her brows furrowed when she saw that the younger purplette was still in bed. "Is there something wrong Aisha? You never woke up this late before."

"... late?" Said girl took a while to process that before she looked at her clock.

7:44 AM

She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times before it finally registered. It was 7:44 in the morning. School starts promptly at 8 AM. The time it takes for her to get there would be about ten minutes, so she would have about six minutes to...

"AAAHHHH!" Aisha panicked instantly, realizing she was going to be late to class if she doesn't get going. In an attempt to get out of her bed, she slipped on her blanket and ended up in a heap of mess on the floor. She promptly picked herself up, ignoring the pain from falling.

"Noah! Why didn't you tell me that I overslept?!" She exclaimed as she dashed for the bathroom.

The elder was nonplused as she watched Aisha rushed through everything. "I thought you were already awake but just decided to stay in your room."

Once Aisha was done with her morning routines, she returned to her room and opened her closet for a change of clothes to put on.

"Well I - It's just that - There was this dream - couldn't sleep - I'm going to be late!" She tried to explain everything as she shuffled through her room in an attempt to change out of her pajamas and into her shirt and skirt at the same time.

Again, she slipped and landed on her haunches, her glasses askew. The good thing was that she got her school clothes on before she fell.

Noah didn't really understand Aisha through her broken sentences, and what she could comprehend didn't really match up with the current situation.

"If you couldn't sleep, I think you're developing insomnia. You been staying up too late reading." She merely commented with underlying scolding

The younger purplette tied her red ribbon tie around her collar as her peripheral hearing picked up on Noah's words.

"Right right." Aisha replied absentmindedly, slipping into her navy blue cardigan. "Sorry Noah, love to continue this, but I'm in a rush!"

She gathered her things into her navy blue school bag and ran down the stairs, two steps at a time. She took a piece of toast in lieu of sitting down to enjoy breakfast and bolted for the door. She put the toast in her mouth as she put her shoes on, tap them against the floor, and open the door.

"Mmpgh Nmm!" She hollered to the older purplette, who was just not coming down from the second floor, before being on her merry way to school.

Even if Noah couldn't understand that, she could pretty much guess that she was saying goodbye.

She sighed. "Even if I'm not her mom, I still worry for her."

…

Aisha flushed when she got to class after the bell rang. Her classmates' eyes and her teacher's disappointment gaze boring into her was not an ideal way to start the day. It was the first time she was ever late to school as well!

Aisha collapsed on her desk, moping over how it was permanently going to ruin her attendance record - which had been perfect up until now.

She sighed, straightening up and resting the side on her face in her palm as she looked out at the window. Usually, she would be giving all her attention to the teachers who were spending their time to give an education to the younger generations. But today, she just couldn't focus. Maybe it was because of the tardy mark, or the run to school that got her blood pumping (She'll never do something like that again), or perhaps it was her lack of sleep, which led to that dream of hers…

"Partner up to do this history project got it?" The teacher, Stella, ordered, which snapped Aisha back to attention.

She widened her eyes slightly, panicking inside. _Project?! What project?!_

The purplette mentally cursed herself for not paying close attention to what her teacher had said. Now she would have to ask - which she was reluctant - Ms. Stella, or one of her fellow classmates. Aisha scanned around while reviewing her options.

Stella was known as the strictest teacher on the campus, adding to the fact Aisha was already late to school today, so admitting that she wasn't paying attention to her class would be crossing over to her bad side - something Aisha definitely did not want.

Asking her classmates seemed like a good option… except for the fact that she was practically invisible to them.

In her school, Aisha was kind of like a wallflower. No one really took notice of her and she wouldn't do anything to gain attention, she rather mind her own business instead of prying on another. However… there was something about her that gave her unwanted attention, something she didn't like hearing others talk about.

"Seeing that there's an odd number in the class, either pair up and have one group of three or pair up and the leftover will work on his or her own." Stella informed, sizing the class up.

All eyes turned to Aisha, making her roll hers.

She was a nerd. And what does everyone like about nerds when doing group projects? Letting the smart ones have all the 'fun' while the rest chill around and get A's for doing complete crap.

Aisha huffed and raised her hands. "Ms. Stella, can I be the one who works alone on the project?"

The strict teacher looked over to Aisha, who sat in the back. She wasn't surprise that she had volunteered. Knowing Aisha, Stella had expected that _and_ she was completely fine with it too since she already knew the motive of her class the moment she decided to be nice once upon a blue moon. She did not want any one of them to slack off in this assignment and if being partnered with Aisha would lead to that, then she'll make the obvious choice.

"That's fine with me," Stella replied with a grunt. "but you'll have to research all the history revolving around era of your choice, turn in a hand written report as well as give the class an oral presentation on your research. I don't expect BS since you have a month so you think you'll manage?"

Aisha merely smiled. "Yes." _… Now that I know what the project is about._

Able to disappointment everyone when she jotted Aisha down as working alone, Stella returned her gaze to the front. "Now, the rest of you. Find your partner and start working. This is one of those times that I actually allow you to pick your own partner so I don't want to hear complaints."

When no one actually moved, Stella slammed a hand against the podium, hard. "Get ta work yeh little brats!"

… And there goes her accent when she's annoyed.

Scrapping of chairs, shuffling of feet, and murmuring of students filled the dull atmosphere of the classroom immediately after.

Aisha stayed where she was, taking out the history book she hastily packed in the morning to start working. Albeit… she couldn't ignore the whispers around her, which was really distracting.

 _"Look at her. She's already working. What a nerd."_

 _"She just wanted the A all to herself."_

 _"Why did Ms. Stella agree to her? She never agrees to any of our appeals!"_

 _"Isn't it obvious? She's the teacher's pet."_

 _"Only a geek like her would be able to gain favors from the demon teacher."_

Oh the flames.

Aisha sighed and closed her eyes behind her lens as she set the book down. She wasn't going to say anything about it. She rather not be the center of attention, albeit she was contradicting herself. She had gotten herself in the spotlight when she had told the teacher that she wanted to work alone.

She leaned her head against her hand, looking out the window miserably. _Could this day get any worst?_

She wished that there was someone out there that could reach out for her, who wouldn't just notice her only because she could be of use to them.

 _"I have to stay by your side Princess!"_

Aisha blinked, then shook her head to get rid of the thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about some dream she had. Now was the time to focus and get to work.

With that in mind, she resumed skimming the textbook for an era of interest.

...

You know when Aisha asked the world how her day could get any worst? Well, it did.

Aisha ran through the pouring cats and dogs after the school day was over, her school bag acting as a shielding, poorly blocking the rain from even her head.

How the clear blue sky from this morning had turned to a complete downpour in a matter of hours was beyond her. She didn't see any rain in the forecast nor was she prepared for this kind of weather - any weather actually. She didn't mind them, it was just a hassle to get home from school, and vice versa, when the weather's acting up.

Muddy puddles splashed out as her feet made contact with the ground, soaking into her shoes and making a mess of her socks and the hem of her skirt while her blazer and shirt was soaked to her skin.

Looking around for a place to stop for a quick breather (she was never one good at running ), Aisha slowed down to a stop under the eaves of an antique store, breathing heavily with water dripping from her two low pigtails.

She sighed another time as she placed her bag down and twisted her pigtails dry - though it wasn't too successful.

"... Maybe I should wait it out." Aisha mumbled as she stared at the pelting droplets. She wondered how long it'll be until the rain actually let up so she could get home. If it doesn't, she might have to call Noah to pick her up after her shift is over, which is…

Aisha searched her pockets for her phone and realized - horrendously - that it wasn't anywhere on her. She then looked into her bag, it wasn't there either.

The purplette whacked her brain, trying to remember where she had put the cellphone, only to recall that it was sitting on the desk in her room. She must have missed it when she was scared to death about being late to school - which ended happening despite her efforts.

Aisha groaned as she slapped a hand to her face. Now what was she going to do?

She sneezed and shivered. That's what.

She only just realized she was soaked to the bones and if she doesn't find a way to dry off, it wouldn't be good for her body. No, she won't catch a cold. Aisha knew that neither cold weather or the rain could give someone a cold. She read about it.

A cold is a virus that spreads from people to people when there's a group of them. And so, during winter, when people stay huddled in the same place and don't move around, they have more chances of catching a cold from another and it'll only lead to a chain reaction.

So no, she wasn't going to be sick, but being wet wouldn't do her any good either. Noah would freak and she wouldn't hear the end it.

Aisha turned to the shop behind her, reading the name that was painted on glass window in fancy letters.

 **[Elf's Antiques]**

"Elf?" Aisha mumbled in confusion. _The owner of the shop must be into those kind of fantasies._

Subsequently, she found it weird how she had never came upon this store before. The location was actually on her way to and from school so how could she possibly miss it since she always traveled this route by foot?

Another wave of cold made her shiver and bringing her back from her train of thoughts.

"Ugh… maybe the owner could let me use their phone…" She mumbled and took her bag from the ground. She was about to open the store when the door swung open to reveal a lady with lime-blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She looked to be around Aisha's age, if not older.

Her dress was something she had never seen before, with layers of green, white, and black, and gold trimming here and there.

"Oh my…" The girl gasped when she saw Aisha. "You must be cold! Come in and let's get you dried off!"

"Wha - wah!" Aisha yelped when she was suddenly pulled into the antique store by the stranger. Was she getting abducted in broad daylight?!

She was led to the back of the store, where the person she had never met in her life searched around for a set of clothes for her to change into.

"Um…" The purplette started after a while, gaining the blonde's attention.

"Yes?" The green haired girl replied, then blinked upon realizing something. "Oh! We never introduced ourselves did we?" She giggled and bonked herself lightly on the head. "Silly me, I'm Rena. You?"

"A-Aisha…" The purplette couldn't find anything else to reply with, she just found the girl very sociable.

"Well then Aisha, what were you saying?" Rena smiled warmly.

"Um… Ah - oh! Are you this store's owner?" The purplette finally gathered her thoughts back together. "You look a bit… young…."

Rena giggled again. "I'm not the owner but I'm watching over this place until the owner comes back."

"Ah, I see." Aisha nodded. Silence returned and Rena went back to searching, but no luck.

"Hm... I can't seem to find any spare clothes that you can fit into…" Rena hummed in trouble.

Aisha raised a brow. _Spare clothes?_ She sized the greenette up and her gaze landed on her rather large bust. She looked down at herself and sulked, deciding that she probably wouldn't fit any of Rena's clothes.

"It's fine." Aisha said. "But can I use the phone here to call my guardian so that I could tell her about my circumstances?"

Rena blinked and then tilted her head, looking rather blank. "This place… doesn't have a phone."

"Eh?" Aisha piped, thinking she might have heard her wrong. "You're not serious, are you?"

"I'm serious." Rena replied with a nod.

"What?!" Aisha stood, aghast. "How could this store - what am I going to do now?!"

She looked over to the window, seeing that the storm haven't let up yet. Returning back, she found a clock on the wall opposite of her, reading 7:56 PM.

Did time really passed by that fast? But then again, she stayed in the school library for her assignments, then there was the rain that held her back and now she couldn't get home.

"Oh! I know!" Rena piped suddenly with an imaginary light bulb on her head. "You can borrow mine!"

"Really?" Aisha asked hopefully.

The blonde nodded cheerfully, her side ponytail bouncing back and forth. "Let me just go get it. You can look around if you want because it might take a while!"

"Huh?" Before Aisha could question why, Rena already disappeared.

 _Where exactly did she put her phone if she needs a while to find it?_ Aisha wondered.

Taking on Rena's offer, Aisha wandered around the store, seeing what the antiques it has.

After touring half the store, she found most of the things old and dusty, some were strange, like bows that didn't have any strings and bottles of strangely colored liquid that she had never seen before. There were orbs of different colors arranged on a table, some dusty while others were cracked - what she found similar was that the crack ones are all empty. Books of every kind but none even seem to be of this century since all they talked about were kingdoms, elves, unicorns, Ancient Phorus, magic, all those fantasy things. The pages of the books were tattered and some came loose when she tried to open them

She looked at the other part of the store and found broken, rusty robots sitting on the side. It was weird, they looked extremely old yet they seemed so high tech. Did someone create them but never let the public know?

As she traverse through shelves the, a small blue opal gem embedded in it caught Aisha's eyes. It wasn't covered in dust like all the other strange items and there was a faintly glow to it as it rested on a velvet cushion.

Curious, Aisha stood on her tip toes in order to grab it off the high shelf that it sat upon. Failing as she tried, she decided to climb the shelf to reach it.

Once she reached the highest one, she reached for the item of interest as her glasses reflected off of the opal gem. However, just as her fingertips brushed against the jewel, a bright light over took her vision.

"Ah!" She exclaimed as her eyes shut tight. Her grip slip, causing her to to take a fall. She braced for the impact but instead, she felt a pair of arms catching her as a clang came from the gem dropping because of Aisha having to pull the velvet cushion along with her.

"Are you okay, Princess?" came the concern of a male voice. And literally, a knight in shining armor came to her rescue.

"Wha…?" The purplette cracked open her eyes, only to gaze into deep red pools. The person she was staring at caught her before she hit the floor - which was good = but then she realized that it was a guy - which was bad. And after that, she realized she was being held bridal-style, tightly but gently - which was really bad... for the guy.

"W-wh-wh-" Aisha started to stutter as the person came out of nowhere. Her defensive instincts came in and she delivered an uppercut to the person's lower jaw, screaming "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Now that she had lost her support, Aisha plummet to the floor and landed painfully on her haunches, but that wasn't the important thing right now. She could always groan about it later.

The person stumble backwards, rubbing his chin as he winced. "That hurts." He merely commented and gave the purplette a look. "Is this really what I get for helping you?"

"W-who…" Aisha pointed, her eyes swirling in panic as she backed up against the shelf. "Who the hell are you?! And where did you come from?! You don't just go up behind a girl and scared the heck out of her!"

She does not deal too well with strangers. Bad when it was with guy strangers. Even worst when the guy stranger just came out nowhere and broke into her personal bubble.

… Aisha met two too many strangers on a rainy day - why was still howling outside by the way.

The red-eyed person raised a brow, as if asking if Aisha was serious. "You have gotten a lot more discourteous, Princess."

At that, Aisha suddenly forgot her panic in favor of silently blinking while confusion crossed her features. "W-what? Who are you talking about?" Now that she thought about it, he had addressed her as this 'Princess' a few minutes ago as well. Does he have some kind of Chuunibyou[1] or something? Or was he just delusional?

She started to look him over, finding his spiky red hair all over the place, which made Aisha wonder if he had ever bother combing it. His clothes were… old fashion, or rather, not even of this century.

Aisha wasn't that into the latest fashion trends but she knew that red, white, and black clothing covered in armor does not go into the 21st century.

The redhead knitted his brows together and tilted his head to the side cluelessly. "Are you not…" He trailed, then his eyes darted to the corners suddenly. It was then that he took in his surroundings.

"... Rena?" He muttered to which Aisha caught.

The purplette eyed the boy suspiciously. _He knows Rena…? Then he should be trustable… right?_ Aisha thought skeptically to herself. The purplette reasoned that the greenette emitted an easy-going and friendly aura that makes it easy for any kind of people to approach. The purplette doesn't really trust a lot of people she had met for the first time, but Rena was the exception. That bubbly, dependable smile of hers was hard to ignore.

"Are you… a friend of Rena's?" Aisha decided to query, cautiously.

The armor clad male returned his gaze back to Aisha. Again, doubt settled in his red orbs. "Yes. Do you not know that already?"

"Hah?" Aisha replied, slightly with incredulity. She found his speech weird but she didn't pay it any heed for now. "Why would I? I just met her when I was trying to find a place to wait the rain out - and I just met you too!"

"But…" The redhead frowned, but then scrutinized at the purplette. "It's raining?"

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Duh, it's raining cats and dogs out there. Where have you been?"

He ignored her churlish tone and continued. "More importantly, you were out there before coming to this place for shelter?"

"... What of it?" Aisha shot back, narrowing her eyes.

"You're wet." He stated the obvious. "You should be more careful or you'll catch a cold."

"..." Aisha just looked at him.

"What?" The red haired boy inquired, but then seemed to have changed the subject when he looked around. "Ah… I should get you something to dry off with."

"You do know that I won't catch a cold simply by being in the rain right?" Aisha finally commented, but it wasn't exactly what she had in mind. She should be asking who he was!

The redhead blinked. "You don't?"

Aisha sighed, finally getting up. "Never mind. It's not like a lot of people know that fact anyways."

She made her way back to where she had left her schoolbag and saw that Rena haven't came back.

"Where is she - wait…" Aisha shot her gaze back to the redhead. "Didn't you say you know Rena?"

"Yes." was his reply.

"And you mentioned you just saw her… right?"

"Perhaps." He replied back uncertainly. "I detected movement within this building but I'm not sure if it's Rena."

The purplette sighed as she slumped down to the chair. "Great… how long does it take to get her phone? I really need to get back home before Noah throws a fit."

"What do you mean by -" The redhead's eyes widened by a fraction as he lunged for Aisha. "Princess, watch out!"

"Huh?" was what she was able to say before the still-a-stranger-to-Aisha pushed her off her chair.

His hand was placed on the other side of Aisha's head -successfully locking her to the floor- as he crawled back up next to her.

The purplete's eye twitched. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked through gritted teeth. She was refraining herself from calling the boy a pervert since one, that would be rude to say to a stranger; two, he was a stranger; and three, Aisha does not accuse anyone of anything unless she absolutely knew it was true. But the knight-wannabe was coming close to being accused.

"Stay down." The boy hissed before looking off to the side. "Who's there?"

All of a sudden, there was a chime and a small breeze that brushed against his face. He nodded his head to no one in particular and picked Aisha from the ground.

"W-w-wait! Wh-what are you doing?!" The purplette stammered as she was being carried bridal-style.

"It's not safe here anymore Princess." He replied. "We need to leave."

"Hah?!" Aisha did not understand what he was talking about and she definitely did not want to go with him. And so, she started to thrash about in his arms. "Let go of me this instant!"

He didn't reply. Instead, he made a 180 turn and suddenly grimaced, gritting his teeth while Aisha didn't quite catch what was happening. There was nothing there…

"Let's go…" He mumbled, making his way for the door.

"W-wait - it's still raining!" Aisha exclaimed as they were met with a strong gust of wind outside.

Without hesitance, the boy ran through the howling wind with Aisha in his arms.

 _I'm being abducted!_ Aisha thought in panic and then she realized something else. "MY SCHOOLBAG!"

The redhead person stopped, looking at the purplette blankly before putting her feet down and showing her a navy blue schoolbag. "You mean this?"

"You got it!" Aisha exclaimed, relieved, as she took her possession back. "Thank El, you picked it up. I have all my homework in there!" That moment only lasted for a second before Aisha punched the boy in the guts. "AND GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME YOU PERVERT!"

Ah… she said it.

"Ow…." The boy groaned, clutching his side. "I'm not a punching bag, Princess."

Aisha huffed indignantly, "Quit calling me that!" She then looked around, seeing that they were far from the antique store by now.

She heaved a sigh but it was drowned out by the pit-patting of the rain, though it seemed to have lightened up already. "I guess I should just try to get back home in the rain…"

The purplette looked at the red haired boy, seeing him soaked in that weird outfit of his - seriously, did he get them at the antique store and decided to wear them? The boy definitely stood out but she couldn't help but wonder if she should leave him or…

"Hey." Aisha started, immediately gaining the boy's attention. "Do you want to come over to my house to dry off? It's not that far away."

She mentally hit her head against a wall for deciding to offer him help.

The knight-wannabe blinked, then smiled warmly - one that could kill many girls within sight. "That would be great. Thank you."

"Right." Aisha said placidly, unaffected by the handsome smile, then groaned. "Noah should probably be home by now too… I'm not looking forward to her scolding..."

* * *

 **[1] Similar to 8th grade syndrome.**

 **I swear, I didn't intentionally want to make this chapter long, no future chapters. I just didn't know when to stop! QQ**

 **Future chapters won't be like this... I hope. I don't want them to be.**

 **Even though this is a partial school fanfic(but... it gets complicated...), I might actually write one that's focused solely on that.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Elsword Sieghart

**This seems like the regular chapters for this story. But who knows, I might just write more in the future (Probably not)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword.**

* * *

"I'm home…" Aisha called as she opened the door to her house. And as expected, Noah was home and she came right to the entrance to greet Aisha with a scowl. "Do you know what time it is, young lady? And you're soaking wet too!"

"Yeah, well…" Aisha averted her eyes nervously. "It's… a long story, Noah…"

Noah folded her arms. "Then you better start talking."

The younger purplette laughed nervously while rubbing the nape of her neck. "Actually… before that, I um…"

She promptly moved aside to let the boy from earlier to enter.

"Hello." He greeted with a slight wave.

"Noah, this is… uh…" Aisha blinked, just realizing that she had never gotten the boy's name.

"Elsword Sieghart." The redhead saved, bowing in politeness. "It's nice to meet you."

Noah looked at him blankly, then blinked and looked between the two. After a moment of indescribable silence, Noah forced a laugh. "Haha... Aisha, I think might have been worrying too much today. I'm hallucinating that you brought a boy home..."

The younger purplette blinked. "... You're not."

Noah copied the same gesture. "Right… You're finally growing up, Aisha."

Said girl twitched an eye. "It's not like that! We just so happen to have met in the drenching rain and our house wasn't that far away so I offered to help! And can we please move away from the entrance now? It would be great to change into dry clothes!"

"Oh, right." Noah moved aside to let the two walk into the living room. It was then Noah perceived an important detail.

"Um… Ai?" She called. "We don't want have any spare clothes for guys."

Aisha could be heard cursing.

…

"And stay in the guest room until Noah comes back from buying new clothes!" Aisha ordered as she made her way upstairs to change.

Switching into a plain white shirt and gray sweatpants, she took her clothes - and Elsword's (Minus the armor) - into the washer to wash and then to dry.

Aisha then went into the kitchen and heaved a sigh as she mixed up two mugs of steaming hot coco.

"What am I doing…?" she muttered as she brought the two mugs into the living room, placing one of the table and taking the other on down the hall to the guest room.

She knocked on the door before placing the cup down in front of the door. "I'm leaving this mug here. Drink it, it'll help you warm up."

"Thank you, Princess." came his muffled voice.

Aisha sighed once more, pinching the bridge of her nose. "For the last time, that's not my name - where do you even get that from anyways? The name's Aisha. Aisha Cerise."

She heard the turning of the knob and immediately made a run for it. "IDIOT! DON'T OPEN THE DOOR WHEN I'M STILL THERE!" She exclaimed as she ran into the living room. She did not want to see guys in only their boxers. Mind you, Aisha has standards for herself.

Noah came back from her drive to the nearest store with a bag of clothes.

...

"Once you got changed, come to the living room." Noah said as she slipped the bag into the guest room and made her way to the coach where Aisha was sitting at, checking her schoolbag in horror.

"What is it now?" The elder purplette asked as she sat down and took the remote from the table to turn the TV on.

"My papers!" Aisha exclaimed as she blanched, holding up wet stationaries. "It has all the research I did today!"

"Can't do anything about that." Noah commented off the side as she flicked through the channels. "You'll just have it do it all over again."

"But…" Aisha groaned. "I didn't think the rain would seep through!"

"That's what you get for being in the rain." Noah scolded. "You could have just called me to pick you up."

The purplette bit her lips. "You were at work and I… kinda… left my phone… in my room today… in a rush." Her cheeks turning pink at the confession.

Noah facepalmed. "Aisha…."

"I'll remember it next time!" The purplette promised.

"Remember what?" Elsword popped in out of nowhere, causing Aisha to jump about a foot in the air. He was wearing a slightly oversized plaid collared shirt with some blue jeans.

"What the - stop coming out of nowhere!" Aisha exclaimed.

"Oh, you're here." Noah responded calmly, setting the remote down. "Thank goodness, I wasn't sure if the clothes fit or not but it seems fine."

Elsword nodded, then his eyes trailed to the TV and seemed to be intrigued by it.

"Sit down Elsword." The older purplette gestured to adjacent, connecting couch. Again, he nodded and comply with the request.

"Now," The only adult in the room started, turning to Aisha. "I expect an explanation as to why you're late."

The purplete sighed in dismay. "Well… I stayed in the library after school to get a head start on my project - but as you can see, it was a complete waste - and it started to rain when I decided to go home. Being unprepared for it, I just ran home, only to have the rain get heavier. I stopped at this antique store for a short break and I met Elsword there. And… you already know the rest."

She skipped the part of her meeting Rena and some other things. Those were just technicality, no need to mention them.

Noah sighed. "Honestly Aisha. You're more of a workaholic than I am."

The younger purplette huffed indignantly. "Look who I picked it up from?"

Ignoring her comment, Noah switched her attention to Elsword. "Well, this is all kind of unexpected and it's already late in the night. Would you like to stay here for the night? I'll call your parents to let you know that you're here."

The redhead looked at her blankly. "That might be a problem." He pointed out. "My parents aren't among the living anymore..." There was more to his answer but he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to voice it.

A heavy silence dropped onto the two purplette like a bomb. Now Noah felt guilty for bringing it up.

"... Right… sorry to hear that." She finally said, uncomfortably.

Elsword shook his head casually. "It's quite alright. It's been years since then, so I got over it."

"... Do you live alone then?" Aisha plucked up the courage to ask.

Elsword seemed to be studying the purplette for a moment before giving a vague answer. "Not… exactly."

Noah raised a brow. "Well, then do you have any other family members I can call?"

"I had a sister," Elsword offered, then looked away. "but I do not know where she is at the moment."

"... Okay then…" Noah decided with a clap of her hand, she did not want to hear anymore depressing information if there was going to be more. "how about you just stay here for a couple of days? I can probably get information on someone by the surname of Sieghart at my workplace tomorrow. "

Elsword nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

"What…?" Aisha voiced, half irritated and half surprised.

Noah lightly hit Aisha on the back. "Quit it Ai. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow. Go take a shower and go to sleep. You too, Elsword. I'll be in my room if you need anything."

With that, she headed up stairs.

Aisha grumbled something incoherent.

"I need to sort this out first." She sighed at wet paper stack before giving instruction to the redhead. "Guest bathrooms's two doors down the hall, to the right."

"Alright." Elsword replied, standing up. Casting one last glance at the now distracted purplette, he made his way to his destination.

Upon entering, he blinked. He scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do.

"Just how long…" Elsword trailed and sighed. He knew he would get answers later, but he just didn't know when.

He peeked out of the bathroom door. "Princess."

"What?" Said girl called from the living room, irked. "And how many times have I told yo not to call me that! We're not in a fairy tale land here!"

He blinked at her outburst but ignored it for the moment. "Can you… tell me how all of this work?"

Aisha dropped what she was doing and marched over to where Elsword was, giving him a raised eyebrow. "You... don't know how to use the showers?"

"Uh…" The redhead scratched his cheek and made a sheepish grin.

"Where have you been living?" Aisha continued, then sighed. "Whatever, I don't want to know."

She went in and explained how to use the shower head and some other things that Elsword pointed at. It took about half an hour.

"That's… practically everything…" The purplette sweatdropped, realizing that after she had to explain how the _faucet_ work.

Aisha narrowed her eyes at him. "You better not be playing with me."

Elsword held up his hands in defense. "I'm not."

The purplette gave him a suspicious look before returning to the living room. "If you don't know anything else, just experiment!"

Oh, he experimented alright. It took him several tries to get the water to be not too hot or not too cold.

* * *

Aisha wondered what Elsword's problem was. How could anyone not know how to use faucets? Unless he's been living under a rock, there was no way.

"Ugh…" She groaned, massaging her head for a while. "Too much happened today. I should just go take a shower and work in my room."

As she made her way upstairs, Elsword was leaning against the wall, by the window of the guest room, having already finished showering.

His eyes were closed, signaling he was either thinking or sleeping. Either way, he didn't have much of either when he heard the same chime from before, followed by a soft gust of wind.

Elsword cracked open an eye. "It's about time."

A person wisped out of thin air with a wind current. They stuck a bit of their tongue out at the redhead. "Hehe~! Sorry, I had to deal with some pesky shadows."

"Would you mind informing just how long I have been asleep, Rena?" Elsword asked, straight to the point.

Lime-blonde hummed playfully. "You want a rough estimate?"

"Exact." Elsword stated firmly. "And why did the Princess did it."

"Well…" Rena sighed. "You have a limit to how much you should know right now so I'll just brief you about the situation. How does that sound?"

"Fine." The redhead replied impatiently. "But at least tell me explain to me the Princess's conditions. She's acting rather strange."

Rena blinked, before smiling cheerfully. "Oh, that's easy! That's because she doesn't remember anything!"

* * *

 **I'm horrible at where to cut the chapter... aren't I?**


	3. Chapter 3 - Unfamiliar World

**Made some changes on the last chapter**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword.**

* * *

Elsword sat on the bed, crossed legged and folded arms, thinking. He had been up the entire night after Rena dropped the news down to him.

"I'm… in the modern age... where magic is believe to be nonexistent...?" He muttered with traces of confusion before there came a knock on the door.

"Elsword," Noah called. "it's time for breakfast. Be sure to wash your face and brush your teeth before you come eat. Oh, and I'll need to take you to my workplace. It's for what we talked about last night."

"Okay." The redhead replied before getting off of bed and opened the door to head for the bathroom.

Once he got that done, he left for the living room and right across from it, he saw Aisha and Noah already sitting by the table near the kitchen, eating.

 _"What do you mean by she doesn't remember?"_ He replayed part of the conversation he had with Rena in his head.

 _"Actually… it's rather, she's not the one we're familiar with." Rena corrected. "Aisha, isn't who she is before. She's just a normal girl in this modern world, with no memories of her past life."_

 _Elsword narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Are you saying that the Princess that we knew no longer exist?"_

 _"No no," Rena shook her head but then stopped abruptly to think. "Well, kind of. Long story short, the Aisha right now is an incarnation of the original."_

 _"What?!" Elsword hissed, standing up and balling his hands into fists. "The Princess… she - she died?!"_

 _Rena hushed him, for he was being too loud._

Elsword frowned, staring solemnly at the purplette. _She… doesn't remember… anything. She's not the one I know…_

 _"This is something you mustn't reveal to anyone, not even to Aisha, but regardless of that, your role is no different."_ Rena had informed him but it still didn't change the fact that the one in front of him was no longer someone whom he had spend his childhood with. This Aisha had her own childhood and her own memories, modern ones. And it hurts him, knowing that all the fun times they and their friends had just bit the dust.

Aisha finally noticed Elsword's gaze and gave him a look. "What are you staring at?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, I was just thinking." _She's a lot more rude now as well._

"Aisha," Noah started sternly. "don't forget your phone and remember to come home right after school today. I don't want to have to worry about you for coming home late again."

"Right…" Aisha trailed and took her empty plate to the dishes for a quick rinse. "I should get going."

She dried her hands and took her schoolbag. "See you later Noah. And…" She looked over to where the redhead was still standing.

"Bye." She merely said to the boy before going on her merry way.

Noah chuckled. "Sorry about Aisha. She doesn't deal well with people she isn't familiar with. So don't mind her when she's being a little rude. Anyways, come and eat. We'll be off in a few."

"... I don't think we can find my sister." Elsword began as he looked down to his toast.

Noah gave him a questioning look. "And why's that?"

"She's… been gone for a long time now." The redhead replied, trying to word his answer carefully.

The purplette smiled at him. "We'll see after my co-worker look into it. Okay? He's one of the best detectives around so I'm sure he'll find something."

...

When Elsword saw the car, one can imagine just how shock he was - even after being informed how advanced technology has become. There were no horses to pull the large thing and he was astounded when it could traveling with the help of such animals. He was in the front seat with all the strange buttons in front of him. He watched as Noah pressed one of them and music started to play.

He saw it as a mystery since there was no one but him and Noah in the car and they weren't playing any instruments.

Once Noah parked the car, they headed out and stood in front of a large police station.

"Welcome to my workplace!" Noah said with an arm extended to the large building. "I work as part of the police force so it shouldn't be hard to ask them for a favor."

The purplette led Elsword in, with the latter stunned at the automatic door and had to stop right in front of it.

"What's wrong?" Noah asked when she noticed that the redhead wasn't following.

"I-um…" He shook his head, as he entered while making a mental note that he had a lot to learn about this new era. "It's nothing."

After the automatic door came the escalators. Elsword tried his best to keep calm but mentally, he was like _ARE THESE THINGS ALIVE OR SOMETHING?! DIDN'T RENA SAY THAT MAGIC WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NONEXISTENT?!_

When they reached a door, Noah knocked on it three times. There was no reply after waiting for a moment so the purplette decided to try again.

"No point in knocking, there's no one in there." came a husky voice from behind. "Besides, I'm right here."

Noah jumped about a foot in the air in surprise while Elsword just looked over his shoulder, having already detected the ebony male's presence. The man was wearing a red uniform that contrasted with Noah's blue one with silver highlights.

"E-Edan!" The purplette stammered as said person took a sip from his ElBucks coffee.

"Hey." He greeted back casually. "Do you need something? And who's the kid?"

"Ah," Noah relaxed. "this is Elsword Sieghart. You see, his sister's missing for a while now and I thought maybe you could help."

Edan looked Elsword over before giving a nod and taking another sip. "I see… Sieghart huh. We'll see."

The purplette made way as the raven-haired police detective approached his office to unlock it.

"Come in." He held the door for the two, to which Noah raised an eyebrow at.

Edan chuckled in amusement. "Can't I be a gentleman once in a blue moon?"

The purplette rolled her eyes as she and Elsword walked in and took a seat in front of Edan's work desk, which was piling up with paperwork.

"You really need to clean up here." Noah commented.

Edan took a seat in his swivel chair and opened up his laptop while placing his coffee cup next to it. "I work better like this. I can find everything I need on my desk."

"... Yeah, under everything else." She retorted back.

Edan waved her away, looking into his drawer for a file while his desktop load up. "You're not my girlfriend so stop fus -" He stopped talking in order to catch the stapler that Noah threw while a tick mark grew on her head.

"Y'know," He remarked casually as he waved the stapler in the air for a bit before putting it down with the file he retrieved. "That would've hurt."

"That was the intention!" The purplette seethed, slamming her hands on the table and bolting up at the same time. "Who ever said I wanted to be your girlfriend?!"

Edan's calm golden eyes leveled with Noah's raging violet ones as he leaned against his desk with elbows propped and hands weaved in front of him in a business-like manner. "I never said that. I merely stated that you're not my girlfriend. Either you need to get your hearing checked or..." A offhanded smirk played on his lips. "You actually want to be my love interest."

Noah glowered at the raven haired man. "Not. On. Your. Life!"

"Right." Edan chuckled, leaning back. "Now that I'm done taunting you, shall we get down to business?"

Without hearing an answer, the detective continued. "Elsword Sieghart, correct?"

Said boy, who had been awkwardly watching from the side, nodded.

"I'll be needing your sister's name, phone number, and the address of where she lives - if she lives with you, give me yours."

The redhead seemed reluctant to follow through with the demands, mostly because he could only provide with the name and that he knew his sister would be found so easily. "Her name is Elesis Sieghart. And… she doesn't have a phone number." _Whatever that is._ He added as an afterthought.

Edan nodded as he typed in something on the keyboard. "Shame. It would make things easier if I just trace her number. And what about address?"

"Uh…" Elsword pursed his lips. What was he supposed to say that wouldn't sound weird? That he and sister once lived in a castle because they were part of the Red Knights?

According to Rena, castles aren't too common - almost nonexistent - so he wasn't too sure. All he knew he could confirm was that they were in the castle located in Velder, which was the exact city that they were in right now.

"I don't… exactly… recall our address." Elsword ended up reply, laughing nervously.

Edan and Noah exchanged looks.

"So," Edan rested his chin on the back of his hands. "You're telling me that you don't know your address?"

"... Kinda." Elsword replied sheepishly.

"Hm…" The ebony man leaned back. "Then I can assume that you have never set foot in your house before? "

"No, I been to my home before." The redhead supplied, trying to find a good excuse. Truthfully though, he was never a good liar to begin with. "I just didn't bother remembering the address."

"This is a strange case." Edan commented, then casted a look at the purplette. "Let me guess, the kid's staying at your house?"

Noah replied with a nod.

The golden eyed detective sighed. "Right. Elesis Sieghart. At least it's something to go off by. Albeit, I have heard of a Sieghart family before… they were a long line of Red Knights that served under the Royal Family long ago. None of which are of this planet anymore since they were all killed during some kind of unknown invasion..."

Elsword flinched on the spot. How would they react if they found out his was one of those knights suddenly came back? … He rather not cause too much of a commotion.

"Right. Rambling." Edan muttered, and then switched his attention to Noah. "Would you mind giving the kid a place to stay until I find this Elesis Sieghart?"

"That's fine." The purplette replied before standing up. "I think we're done here. C'mon Elsword. I'll give you a ride back."

"Wait." Edan halted them as they were about to leave his office. "May I have a word with you Noah? Privately. Elsword can wait outside of the office."

Both nodded, which led to Elsword stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

The redhead decided to lean against the wall next to the door, deep in thought with folded arms. _Killed off huh… I'm not exactly sure if that was what really happened..._

He knew of only two Siegharts that were still alive back then. And that was him and his sister. The last he remembered of her was when she stayed back to buy him and the Princess time.

 _"Get going Elsword." The elder crimsonette commanded as she wielded her oversized sword. "Take the Princess to a safer place. The soldiers and I will hold them off."_

 _"But sis -"_

 _"There is no buts." Elesis cut off, scolding him. "We are from the line of the Red Knights. Our sole duty is to serve and protect the Royal Family."_

 _"But Elsa," The hooded person countered. "you have to come with us! You said you'll be there to watch me and Elsword!"_

 _The crimsonette braved a smile and patted the person's head. "Your Highness, I'll be be watching over you and my little brother no matter where I am. Now, leave this place."_

 _She gave the two a little push out the door. "Els, be sure to take care of Her Highness."_

 _The younger redhead downcast his gaze but hardened in determination before giving the hooded princess a tug. "Let's go Princess."_

 _"But -"_

 _"Your safety is our first priority." He said firmly before tugging her away by her hand._

Elsword gripped his arms tightly with his bangs shadowing his eyes. "I failed, Elsa."

"Failed what?" Noah's face was closed up to his side, which gave him a start.

"Wha - I err - N-nothing." was the answer he ended up giving.

The purplette laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Anyways, ready to go?"

"Um yeah."

"Oh, I forgot to ask." Noah started as they headed for the elevator that lead to the escalator down the lobby. "Do you go to school?"

Elsword blinked, it was difficult to word his answers so that they stay as the truth but not exactly. It was a more difficult task than he expected. "... School? No… I have been studying on my own. My sister tutored me as well, until she disappeared."

"Huh…" The purplette mused. "Well… I can't have you doing nothing at my house so how about I enroll you into the school Aisha's attending? You're about her age so you have to go to school."

"Huh?"

"And you could keep a watch on her as well!" Noah continued with a clap of her hand, excited with the plan she came up with. "She always had the tendency to stay after school to work but I worry about that sometimes. Aisha is… a little closed off to her classmates and..."

Elsword mulled over the proposal. _It would make things more convenient..._

"Sorry, I was rambling wasn't I?" Noah said after a while. "But how about it Elsword?"

"Uh… sure."

She smiled in reply. "Just please do me the favor of looking after Aisha. Okay?"

"I will."

* * *

 **Elsword's POV and he's being completely unfamiliar with technology since he doesn't belong to that century. More explanation and Noah and Edan having a little banter.**

 **I plan on revealing things piece by piece so it will be confusing until the plot goes further in when everything is piece together. Bare with me until then ^^'**


	4. Chapter 4 - Why me?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword**

* * *

School just ended and Aisha was still in her classroom finishing off a bit of reading. However, the overly-loud screams outside was ridiculous, she couldn't concentrate. She ended up reading the same sentence ten times before getting irritated and decided to stop.

She sighed, pushing her glasses up.

"Might as well just go home." She mumbled as she grabbed her bag. As she put on her outside shoes at her shoe locker, she could hear some squealing, similar to those she heard on the third floor.

Aisha rolled her eyes. _People these days._

She secured her bag on her shoulder and left the main building.

In front of the school entrance, by the gates was a group of girls surrounding someone. What Aisha didn't notice was red hair among many various variations of browns and black, until...

"Ah, Princess!"

Said purplette froze in her tracks, right next to the group as she looked over to see a wave waving among the cluster of girls. "Heh…?" The voice sounded familiar but she really hoped that it wasn't who she thought it was. But that address basically screamed out who it was.

"It took you long enough." Elsword squeezed out of the group, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I been waiting for you."

Aisha blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. _You got to be kidding._

"Uh…" She then checked the situation with the people behind Elsword and decided the best possible route to go about this.

"Sorry, you got the wrong person." She ended up saying with a hand waving back and forth before booking it.

"Wha - hey, wait up!" His confusion was temporarily put off as he chased after the running girl, who was leaving a comical dust cloud to trail in her wake.

"DON'T FOLLOW ME YOU IDIOT!" Aisha exclaimed.

"This isn't call following if we're going in the same direction!" Elsword hollered and quickly caught up.

"What the -" Aisha underestimated just how fast Elsword could go and so, she slowed down. "Watch out, there's a -"

 _Thud!_

"- lamp post…" Aisha winced and walked over to the redhead, who was still standing and rubbing his aching face. "Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding?"

"... two?" Elsword answered though it was a bit uncertain due to the headache.

The purplette blinked. "Huh. That sounded like it really hurts but you seem fine."

"How can you say that so casually?" Elsword groaned. "It does hurt!"

"Right…" She didn't know what else to say so she just decided to walk on, Elsword tailing right beside her. "By the way, why were you at my school? I thought you were with Noah at the police station."

"Oh that. It's… kind of difficult to find my sister so Noah took me back - I'll be staying with you two for now by the way - but she decided that I should wait for you to make sure you would come home straight away."

Aisha clicked her tongue.

"... You were going to stay late weren't you?" Elsword could read her face quite well.

"No." The purplette lied, averting her gaze, only to return back to him. "Wait, how long have you been waiting?"

The redhead scratched his cheek as he looked up to the sky. "Not… that long."

"You're lying." Aisha deadpanned.

"I'm not."

The girl huffed. "Whatever. But thanks to you, there's going to be a few rumors going around school tomorrow."

Elsword tilted his head. "Why's that?"

Aisha heaved an exasperated sigh."Never mind, I don't want to explain it to you. Just know that I'll be blaming you if tomorrow is worst than usual."

The redhead sighed, shaking his head. _How irreverent can she be?_

He noticed the purplette stopping in her tracks and he followed suit.

"Something wrong?"

Aisha pointed to the empty store right next to her, with the sign 'For Lease' on it. "That antique store… it's gone."

He tilted his head in confusion. "What store?"

"The store that we ran out from just yesterday!" Aisha elaborated. "It's empty now! How could it be emptied out this fast?!"

Elsword blinked. _Rena... where did she go now?_

"I don't know." He answered.

"But Rena said…" Aisha started, then looked at Elsword. "Didn't you say you're a friend of hers?"

"... yes?" The boy didn't like where this was going.

"Then you have a way of contacting her right?"

Elsword felt a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. "Um… No actually… She's just an acquaintance that I met long ago." It's not too far away from the truth...

The purplette sighed in disappointment. "Oh well. But they had some interesting things that I wanted to look at…"

Aisha decided to resume walking while Elsword spared one last glance at the empty store before following.

...

"We're home!" The purplette shouted to the empty house when she unlocked it. It was a habit really. She developed it when Noah was always home before she could get out of school. It was only a few months ago that Noah had a change in her shift, though she said that it would be temporary. Then she'll be back to the night shifts.

Aisha pointed to the couch. "Sit down. Don't try anything funny because I got a bat and I'll use it if I need to."

Elsword sweatdropped. "O... kay?"

The purplette huffed and tossed her bag to the side of the couch. "What do you want? I'm going to make something to eat."

When no answer came, she walked out of the kitchen to see Elsword staring intently at the remote. "... Don't tell me, you don't know how that works either?"

The redhead laughed and shook his head. "Uh... No, I do."

She raised a skeptical brow. "Right..." She gestured to the remote. "See that big red button on the corner? That's the on and off button. Click it. Then use those arrows to see what you want to watch on TV. Got it? Good. Now, do you want something to eat or not?"

"... What?" Elsword didn't catch what she said since her voice drawled on idly.

"... Okay, a sandwich it is." Aisha nodded as if the redhead gave her a proper answer. She went back to opening the fridge and taking some ingredients out. She stopped midway when she took two slices of bread out of the bread loaf.

 _Why exactly am I making something for him to eat?_

She pondered that _while_ she's making two sandwiches.

...

"AAAAIIIEEEEE!"

When Aisha woke up next morning, it was the usual time. No oversleeping and no panic. She was still groggy when she got out of bed and still was when she opened her door. She did not expect to see anyone and she definitely did not anticipate the redhead stranger - yes, he still was - to be standing right in front of her door when she opened it.

And so, she shrieked and shouted out bloody murder before grabbing the bat she had against the wall of her room and tried to hit him.

"W-w-wait!" Elsword exclaimed, retreating back at the sudden attack. "Ow - Hey - Princ - OW! OKAY, STOP THAT!"

He got irritated by the relentless swing of her wooden stick and decided to intercept it, causing Aisha to open her eyes and registering who it was. That only made her kick Elsword in the guts in anger, sending him plummeting to the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" The purplette exclaimed. "WHY WERE YOU STANDING IN FRONT OF MY ROOM LIKE A CREEPER?!"

In Elsword's defense, he was just trying to knock on her door just as she opened it suddenly.

"Wait, I just -"

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT PERVERT!" Aisha shouted, tightening her grip on the bat and making more swings.

"What's going on up there?!" Noah shouted from below, which caused the high school girl to stop mid swing.

"THERE'S A PERVERT IN OUR HOUSE!" Aisha shouted back, glaring.

"... What?"

"I'm not a pervert!" Elsword protested. "Noah told me to get you and then you started screaming when you saw me!"

"A likely story!" The purplette retorted, raising her weapon. "Now face hell for me, pervert!"

"Aisha!" Noah decided to come up to see what was going on and had to take the bat out of Aisha's hand before she gave poor Elsword a concussion. "Don't jump to conclusions like that! Elsword was telling the truth!"

"O-oh..." Aisha's cheeks suddenly flared, realizing she got worked up over nothing.

"Now apologize to Elsword and get ready for school." Noah said sternly.

"W-what?!" Aisha exclaimed incredulously. She did not want to apologize to the redhead. It was his fault for scary the heck out of her and that he was just standing there! But her thoughts derailed when she realized that she shouldn't waste time. She can't be late to school again!

"Ah!" She rushed to the bathroom on the floor and shut the door loudly.

Elsword sweatdropped while Noah heaved an exasperated sigh, shaking her head.

"Don't mind Aisha." She told the redhead before going downstairs. "By the way, you're an early riser aren't you?'

"Um..." Elsword rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You... can say that." The only reason he woke up early was because a knight can never let his guard down. Especially when he has a duty to fulfill.

"Right. Come down and eat." Noah smiled sisterly, reminding him of his own.

He feigned a smile. "Okay." _Elsa..._

...

"Wait, Aisha -"

"I'm going now, bye!" The purplette said hastily as she just grabbed a granola bar from the counter and left with that. She didn't want to stay for too long, lest she be reminded of the embarrassment that she made of herself early this morning.

"Gah!" Aisha huffed as she slowed to a walk. "I can't believe that dork! He should have told me sooner before I got hysteric."

She bit a chunk of her granola bar as she walked to school. Along the way, she saw the usual students and among them was a silver haired girl surrounded by a few girls. Aisha knew the girl from her year, just in different classes.

She was Eve Silvia, the Student Council President; popular among both girls and guys despite her cold demeanor. The purplette was also interested in the student council when she first came in but... since she needed student votes, she knew that that was impossible.

She cast a contemplative glance at the silverette. She found Eve strange. Even though she was constantly surrounded by her fellow students, she seemed... distant. Some say that Eve's just shy, others said that she was emotionless, and more say that since she's rich, she didn't want to bother with peasants. But Aisha's favorite was that Eve was secretly an android send to Elrios High to investigate the school's secrets.

Aisha chuckled under her breath. "Like that would ever be possible."

Eve caught her staring and returned with a poker face.

"Eep!" Aisha bristled and looked away, trying to act as if ntohing happened while she fidget with her glasses. She was a horrible actor to say the very least.

She was relieved when she got to school on time and scurried off to her class... only to hear snippets of what the passing students were murmuring when seeing her.

"Is that...?'

"Yeah, I think she knew that cute boy. from yesterday"

"He called her a 'princess'."

"What's their relationship?"

 _Oh great..._ Aisha mentally rolled her eyes. Elrios High wasn't known for their virus-like rumors for nothing.

When she opened the from door to her class, eyes were boring onto her immediately, making her sweatdrop.

"Uh... hey...?" She greeted awkwardly before making her way to her seat. Well that was a first. She greeted her classmates.

She was still getting strange stares but she tried to ignore it by looking out the window. _I shouldn't have gotten up so early..._

* * *

Stella slammed the attendance book on the desk. She was the class's history teacher yes, but unfortunately, she's also their homeroom teacher.

"Alright you brats, pay attention!" She snapped, her hand still firmly pressed against the book while her other was on her hip. "We have a transfer student and I expect you all to behave, got it?!"

Of course, that didn't go like Stella demanded.

Hearing that there was a transfer student riled Aisha's class up a great deal.

"A new student?!"

"Finally!"

"I wonder if it's a cute guy..."

"Psh, it's definitely going to be a hot chick!"

"Maybe it's -"

"Could it be -?!"

Stella had half a mind to smack all of them into a wall when a vein bulged on her head. "... Shut... the HELL UP!" She pounded a fist against the table, immediately gaining control of her class. "Didn't I tell ya'll to behave?!"

"H-hai!" Most of class 3 - A bristled for fear of angering their teacher again. But really though, they think that Stella needs some kind of anger management. Her getting choleric at them all the time was definitely not good for her health.

The brunette straightened up, satisfied.

"Get in here brat." Stella ordered, turning her head to the door.

The class watched in peaked curiosity as to who their new classmate will be. And when Aisha saw red hair poking in, she cursed all seven gates of hell and back.

"Don't just stand there!" Stella barked, pointing to the spot beside her desk, in front of the class. "Get in and introduce yourself!"

"R-right..." The redhead responded nervously. He walked to the front of the class and unknowingly gave the killer smile of his to his future classmates. "Hello. My name is Elsword Seighart and I'll be your classmate from now on. I hope we'll get along."

Aisha found herself banging her head against her desk.

 _Why me?_

* * *

 **... I wanna hit my head on something too qq**


	5. Chapter 5 - The New Student(s)

**Classes:**

 **Elsword - Lord Knight**

 **Aisha - Elemental Master**

 **Rena - Wind Sneaker**

 **Raven - Blade Master**

 **Guest reviews:**

 _ **DarkBlades - Lol, Aisha won't give up for sure.**_

 **Thanks to those who reviewed!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword**

* * *

Everyone stared at Aisha's queer antics as her bang her head up and down on the wooden desk repeatedly. She caught on after a few more head banging and laughed awkwardly, waving them off while pushing up her glasses. "D-don't mind me!"

Stella raised a brow, seeing her once calm and collected student acting very much like a weirdo.

"Right..." She commented skeptically before turning to the new annoyance that will be joining the class. "Time to find you a seat."

Aisha widened her eyes in realization and stared at the empty chair next to her in, at the back.

... And there she goes mentally cursing again.

Panicking, she actually considered throwing the poor desk out the window, but before she _actually_ had done that, it was too late. Stella had spotted the desk of horror - in Aisha's opinion - and had told Elsword that that will be his seat from now on.

Aisha banged her head - mentally this time - against her desk for her luck.

Elsword, on the other hand, was more than willing to sit next to the only person he knew in a class of strangers. "Hey Princess. Isn't this a coincidence? We're sitting next to each other!"

 _Coincidence my behind._ Aisha berated mentally as she felt the glares stab her in every direction, from girls of course. _You just pushed me off a cliff and into a hell hole!_

"Princess?" Elsword looked at her quizzically as he sat down.

The girl's ears picked up what some of her classmates said, though it was more directed towards the address Elsword used towards the purplette.

"Don't talk to me." Aisha muttered through gritted teeth. "Especially not with that."

"Oi new brat!" Stella barked. "No talking!"

The redhead rubbed the nape of his head as he laughed sheepishly. "Sorry m'am."

Aisha stared at him.

The whole class stared at him.

Stella _glared_ at him.

They all knew that the homeroom teacher did not like to be called 'm'am'... or hag or old lady or anything that made her remotely sound old.

"Brat, since you're new, I'm not going to give you a punishment." Stella growled. "But from now on, do not, and I mean _do not_ , call me m'am! Always address me as Ms. Stella got it?!"

"H-hai...?" Elsword responded uncertainly, not really understanding what was so bad about it. The rest of the class could only admired what they saw as casual calmness.

The purplette suppressed the urge to facepalm. _Great... I'm sitting next to a redhead idiot and being stabbed tenfolds for it just because they think he's cool. Sacred El, can it get any worst?_

"Sport's festival's coming up so fill in this form and turn it in! Everyone is expected participate in at least one of the events, got it?"

... And she should really stop asking herself that question. It always have a way of coming back and bite her.

* * *

Aisha had a plan today. She would go to school, attend her classes, do her work, and then go home. Simple right? So how did it end up with Elsword coming to her school and sitting next to her? Not to mention, Elsword was to be her partner in that history report since there was an even number now. And worst yet, she was now the jealousy of the female students of her class because that same redhead idiot was talking to her right this moment, during lunch.

Her peaceful days were flying out the window. Fast.

"Hey Princess, are you okay?" Elsword asked in worry, waving a hand in front of the purplette in hopes of snapping her out of her daze. "What's wrong with -"

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Aisha snapped at him. "And it's nothing... other than the fact that you're now attending my school! What the hell was Noah thinking?!"

The redhead blinked. "... Because school is mandatory for someone like me?"

"Quit being a smartass!" That insult was heard within her classroom and it got her glares.

"Then what do you want me to be?" Elsword raised a brow, though he couldn't help the smirk showing up on his face. Somehow, he just liked teasing the girl.

"I want you to be quiet and stop talking to me." The purplette growled and then shooed him away. "Go make friends like the good little boy you are."

"... What?"

Aisha twitched an eye. "I'm telling you to get away from me!"

"Why?"

She scanned around and then lowered her volume. "Do you not see the attention you're getting me? Those girls are glaring at me!"

"So?"

Aisha want to murder him. Really, she does. She just wanted to eat her lunch in peace, but that doesn't seem to be happening anything soon since -

"Elsword~" A cheerful voice called as the back door to the classroom flew open, revealing a very familiar lime-blonde girl in Aisha's school uniform. "Oh, Aisha's here too~! That's great!"

She then stopped and surveyed the looks at the class - that was definitely not hers - gave her.

"Hi hi~!" She smiled brightly and waved at them, causing some guys to swoon. "I'm Rena Lire, a new student from class 4 - C. Nice to meet you all!"

She then returned her gaze to Elsword and Aisha, who were staring at her in shock. "Hey you two! I haven't seen you since forever!"

 _What?_ Aisha thought incredulous. _It was only two days! And she goes to this school too?!_

She looked at Elsword, seeing him taken by surprise as well. Guess he didn't know anything about this either.

If Aisha was thinking deeper on the matter, she would've wondered how Rena even knew which class they were in. But she didn't.

"R-Rena... what are you doin -"

"How have you two been?" Rena interjected, sitting on the chair that was in front of Aisha's desk. She acted as though they have been friends for ages - technically, they have.

"We're fine." Elsword answered without a beat as if he hadn't been at all astonished by Rena's sudden appearance at all.

"Yeah, we're - what the heck are you doing here?!" Aisha ended up asking.

The blonde looked at the purplette innocently. "Can't I talk to my friends?"

"No, it's just that - wait, how are we even - we met not too long ago!" Aisha stumbled over her sentences, making them come out broken. She was just... too overwhelmed that the two strangers she met two days ago were now sitting in the same class, attending the same school as her, chatting as if they're best friends or something. "And it was only for a few hours!"

"Uh... I known you for two days." Elsword provided, as if that would help in anything.

Rena laughed causally. "C'mon! As long as we get along, we're friends!"

... Sacred El. What was wrong with these people? Can't they just leave her in peace?

"Anyways, why don't we go get lunch?" The blonde suggested. "I don't think the line's that long yet."

"I'm fine," Aisha declined, reaching for her bag. "I brought my own..." She trailed when she found her lunch box nowhere to be found. Did she forget it? Again?

"... Fine. We'll go."

Rena practically beamed at them as she hopped up and shoved the two out of the classroom and down the hall.

...

"So... why exactly are you here?" Aisha finally had time to ask Rena once they were waiting for their turn to buy lunch. Aisha couldn't help but notice some students gawking at her two companions.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Rena asked back innocently. "I said that I was a new student here right? I just moved into town about a few days ago and it's been a busy move so I didn't enroll until a week later."

Elsword raised a brow. "Really?" _She could be a conwoman._

The blonde gave both of them an unfathomable smile. "Is there something wrong about that?"

"No..." Aisha trailed. "But what about that antique store? The entire shop was empty the day after we left."

Rena waved it off. "Oh, well the - Number two of the vegetarian special please!" She ordered off to the side when they got the the front of the line before continuing. "The owner of that store told me that he wanted to move for a while. When I moved in, I came upon his store - it has some interesting things don't you think? - and since I visit regularly during that week, he kindly asked if I could look over the shop while he and the movers go back and forth."

"... I see." Aisha mused after she ordered a sandwich. Elsword asked for the same since... well, he didn't know what else to order.

"And where were you little Miss Aisha?" Rena turned the interrogation around, poking her forehead. "When I came back with my phone, you weren't there anymore!"

"Ah, well..." Aisha didn't know if she should really explain it. Rena might get the wrong idea after all.

"I took her home." Elsword provided when Aisha didn't finish her answer, which earned him a look from said girl that screamed 'Why did you have to go and say that?!'

"Ho~?" Rena's emerald green eyes glinted mischief, much to Aisha's dismay.

 _She's getting the wrong idea. She's definitely getting the wrong idea!_

"Aren't you the the gentleman to escort a girl home in the rain." She mused teasingly.

"N-no, it's not like that!" Aisha tried to defend. "A-anyways, shouldn't get go somewhere to eat instead of standing here and talk?!"

That seemed to work when Rena went deep in thought.

"I know!" She suddenly piped with a smile and pointed at the ceiling. "Rooftop!"

"Eh?! But that place's off -"

"It's fine~! C'mon, let's not waste any more time!"

And that was how Aisha ended up hanging out with the two bizarre people she met at a store who just so happens to go to her school.

... She had an inkling that her days will never be going back to normal after this.

* * *

A boy with smooth black hair and a scar over his right brow stared off to the city. He wore Elrios High's uniform for boys, consisting of a navy blue - almost black - blazer (Or cardigan for girls), white shirt, red tie, black pants (Pleated tartan skirts for girls), and brown shoes.

The knob rattled, which caused his amber eyes to dart towards door. It then flung open, revealing the all too familiar cheerful lime-blonde. How could he not remember the happy-go-lucky transfer student who sat next him in class?

"Wah~! The view's great up here! C'mon you two!"

Behind her came two more, a purple haired girl and a red haired boy.

"Oh, hey Raven!" Rena called when she had noticed him. "I didn't know you're going to be here!"

Raven grunted a reply, returning to his city-gazing.

"You know him?" The redhead asked.

Rena nodded. "He's Raven Corvus, my classmate and desk buddy!"

"Um... he doesn't look like he wants more company on the roof," Aisha pointed out cautiously. "Maybe we should find somewhere else."

Raven have to mentally thank the purplette for stating that aloud. This was the rooftop, the sole place where he could get some actual peace and quiet compared to the rest of the school. And there was no way he would want -

"What~?" Rena derailed his thoughts with a whine. "But the view here is so pretty!"

 _Please no._

"I'm sure Raven doesn't mind."

 _No, I do mind._

"I'm sure we can get along, right Raven?"

 _Never._

Raven cursed under his breath and gave the blonde an intimidating look. "I like quiet. You're too loud. We don't get along."

Elsword and Aisha sweatdropped while Rena seemed to have some kind of barrier in her cheerfulness that fend off remarks like those. Instead, she skipped over to where Raven was and pulled his arm that wasn't in his pocket. "You don't have to be shy, let's eat together!"

"No, I'm fin -" He halted when the blonde gave him the most irresistible puppy-eye look ever. Even if Raven was immune to most methods of begging, he couldn't fend off this. And so, he averted his eyes, mumbling something incoherent before uttering a reluctant agreement.

...

Rena hated seeing frowns on people's faces, it was just telling the world that they're not enjoying life and wanted to be left alone. And Raven was just one of them that she'll turn upside down, whether he likes it or not.

Once lunch ended and Rena bid Aisha and Elsword goodbye before catching up to the raven haired boy as they return to their class.

"Ne ne Raven," Rena started. She had a skip to her pace while Raven's were dull. "why are you such a grouchy face?"

"Is it a crime to scowl?" The boy retorted back coolly.

"It is a crime to me." Rena quipped back with a pout. "I don't like seeing people being all pessimistic all the time."

"Deal with it." He returned acrimoniously. "I'm not going to smile just because you told me to."

She pouted again and attempted to grab the arm that was in his pocket in order to stop him from entering class. However, she felt something... strange about that arm. There was no life in it.

Raven flinched but tried to cover it with a glare. "Let. Go."

"S-sorry!" Rena snapped out of her daze and released her grip, only to see Raven's arm dangle limply to his side. She saw the fingers twitch slightly and heard Raven clicked his tongue in annoyance before he pulled it into his pocket again with his good arm.

"Raven..." She started in concern. "Is there something wrong wi -"

"Nothing's wrong." He snapped brusquely. "And I would appreciate it if you will stop being a pest from now on."

The raven haired boy left Rena standing in front of their class.

The blonde looked back at her hands and made the first frown of the day, seemingly in deep thought. _There was barely any life essence in that arm at all._

Something happened to him which resulted in who he was now and she wanted to know even more about the quiet boy now. With her resolve steeled, she was going to make the boy open up for sure.

* * *

 **Done!**

 **And yeah, Raven now have a paralyzed arm instead of it being amputated and replaced with a mechanical one.**

 **... that's pretty much what I have to say lol. Hope you all liked it.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Mask of Cheerfulness

**Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword**

* * *

"Uh... where are we going?"

Aisha sighed for the umpteenth time today. "To the library duh! We need to do some research and finish this report asap!" She did not want to spend too much of her time with the dork. Especially alone for that matter.

"Which era are we researching about?" Elsword asked, having been informed and given the rubric earlier today - or more like it was slapped onto his desk.

"The Imperial era of Elrios history."

Elsword's smile went unnoticed by the purplette, for she was walking ahead of him. "Ruled by the Glentsid family and protected by the Red Knights?"

Aisha gave him an odd look, which he took offense to. "What? You expect me to be a complete idiot?"

"Sorta." She replied bluntly.

"Ouch."

Aisha ignored that comment and went on. "At the end of that era, I read that they were all killed by an unexpected invasion. Not a single trace of the royal family or of the knights remained. I want to know what happened back then. There was no information on that unknown attack at all."

Elsword looked at her blankly before settling with a knowing smile. "Me too."

"Right then." She noted absentmindedly and stopped in front of the library. She cast a grin over her shoulder. "Maybe you can be of some help after all."

The redhead chuckled in amusement. She have no idea just how much he has to offer.

* * *

Rena was taking a detour back to her apartment, pondering what to do in order to turn Raven's frown upside down. She had tried to accompany him on the walk but they had split at the crosswalk since they lived in different directions.

She passed by a few stores that was popular among teenagers but she ignored them. But what did stop her on her tracks was when she felt the tingling sensation danger. She checked the sky, seeing that it was a shade of red, pink, and orange.

Sunset.

The blonde let a quiet _tch_ escape her lips before checking if the coast was clear. Luckily, she was in the part of town that didn't have too many people walking pass.

Her lips moved and a chant elicit from her, though it was barely above a whisper.

 _"Ancient Spirits, cease your slumber._

 _This humble dust, I shall surrender._

 _Winds of Ages, through me shall course._

 _To Summon and Command, Nature's Force."_

The air around her picked up, playing with her hair. A green arcane circle enlarged under her feet, causing the wind to become stronger and wrapping around her, gaining a beautiful green color. Once it dispersed back into a gentle breeze, she was wearing the same dress two days ago at the antique store. It was short and comfortable, perfect for combat, unlike the uniform she was wearing. Black boots clad her feet and a crossbow equipped onto her arm.

Her hair still in the same side ponytail with white lily decors, but what seemed to have distinguished her from an actual human was the fact that her ears grew longer and pointer - that of an elf's. Orbs of the purest nature spirits accompanied her once the change was done.

Rena knelt down, on hand on the ground while the other clutched into a fist at her side. One moment she was there, and the next, she was airborne with one inhumane leap.

Some, who knew of this, would call this magic. Wind magic to be exact. It lessen Rena's weight and the gravity that was forced upon over other object. Not everyone can perform magic of course; only those who were born with the potential could.

Rena knew that in this era - where magic was said to be nonexistent - there were a few who were born with this ability. And she knew exactly why, since she was there to witness it. She was an elf after all and this was her true identity.

She landed with lithe grace after mountain-worthy leaps from roof to roof, scanning the designated area before loading her crossbow with magic arrows. Night silently approach and her emerald green eyes spotted the shadow creatures with eerie yellow eyes being coalescing from cold concrete.

"Demons, begone." She uttered before she blurred into motion.

She was an elven warrior in the service of the Glentsid family and one of the long assigned regulators to the demon spawns. She will not let anything happen to the now peaceful time after they have fought so long and sacrificed so much to repress the chaos since the end of her beloved, but forsaken era.

* * *

Elsword craned his head to his right. He and Aisha were currently walking home since it was getting late. It was in the walk did he suddenly picked up on a strange... foreboding.

"... and then we're going to have to - oi, are you even listening?" Aisha snapped his attention back to her, a glare adorning her face.

"Uh, yeah." Elsword replied, albeit slightly distraught. "Research the significant people of the Imperial era and what they do, right?"

The purplette tsked. There goes the excuse of bashing him again. She didn't know why but the redhead was just infuriating to the point that she detests his very presence - she probably still didn't get over what happened two days ago and this morning.

"Right. For your part -"

"Actually, sorry to interrupt Princess," Elsword cut in. "I seem to have forgotten something at school. I'll go retrieve it while you go home since we're close to your house anyways."

"... Huh?" Aisha piped in confusion. _Since when did he get all formal? More over..._ "I told you to stop addressing me as 'Princess'! Honestly, you sound like a weirdo when you say that."

The redhead merely smiled at her politely. "Apologies, Princess."

The purplette twitched an eyebrow. "I said to stop it! And what's with you talking like that anyways?!"

"Ah," Elsword bit his tongue from continuing. There goes his formality when he tries to mask his doubts and worries. "Like what? Sorry, I really have to go back to get that thing I forgot. See ya!"

Aisha just stared at his back weirdly while he went back to where they came from. "Crazy idiot."

She couldn't help but feel as if there was something weighing heavy in the wind that seemed to be acting up.

When the ground shook beneath her, she yelped in surprise.

"This city is so unpredictable with its weather and natural disasters." She mumbled to herself but decided to get home than to brood over it.

* * *

Elsword didn't go too far when he felt the vibration under his feet. It felt like an earthquake but... there was something unnatural about it. He looked around his surrounding and at the darkening sky.

A gust of wind caressed his hair and he turned to whichever direction it came from, immediately heading that way. He may not use magic himself, but he can sure detect it thanks to his numerous encounters with it before.

The people around him seemed to be at ease, as if they didn't know the havoc that was stirring.

"Of course not." Elsword muttered to himself. "Rena said that most humans can't detect magic nor do they use it."

He made a turn around the block, finding a large shadow creature being send flying courtesy of a familiar elf.

"Rena!"

Just that holler was enough to draw the attention of remaining four shadow demons towards him.

"Elsword, be careful!" Rena hollered back, delivering a forceful kick to an incoming demon. It went fling against a lamp post, causing it to bent in a direction.

The redhead shifted away from a Shadow Charger and knitted his brows in frustration. _They're too close to where Princess is!_

The blonde elf made a leap and landed near Elsword with a rather powerful stomp on the ground that cause the earth to shake, wearing off the enemies for a few seconds. Though it made the knight wonder if the elf cared if they were attracting attention. Probably not.

"We need to finish them fast." Rena stated urgently. "Or they're going to link more demons to spawn."

"Right." Elsword made to brandish his sword but realized that he doesn't have it, or his armor. He clicked his tongue. How was he supposed to fight in civilian clothes?! While he was brooding over how he was unarmed and unarmored, a small voice in the back of his head seemed to be prodding him for attention.

He had to roll away from a jab from a Shadow Stinger. "Rena, a little problem!"

"Just let the flow take over!"

"What?!"

"Just relax and it'll come to you!"

Skeptically, he followed the elf's instruction. Strangely, he found the small voice becoming more patent and before he knew it, he found himself uttering whatever the tiny voice was murmuring about.

 _"Breath of Legends, from times of old._

 _Sacred El, lend power and mold._

 _Chilvary, Armor to uphold._

 _Justice, my blade untold."_

Like Rena, he had an arcane circle underneath his feet, except in red. And that was it. His body glowed dimly and then dispersed in a sparkle of red light, revealing plates of silver armor over knightly uniform of red, white and black.

His eyes calculating as they landed on his targets. He waned into a crouching stance, his hand reaching his side where there was another glow and a sword took its proper place in his black gloved hand.

At the slightest twitch of a movement from the demon, Elsword blurred away and appeared behind the Shadow demon to hack it away with a fatal swing of his weapon. The monster disintegrate into dusk and whisked away as if it had never been there.

Detecting a presence from behind, he jumped into a overhead somersault and landed with lithe grace before impaling the shadow demon. Knowing that it wasn't enough to get rid of that one, he added a few intricate swings of the sword until it, too, shriveled away into nothingness.

Elsword looked to his side, seeing a Shadow Charger. His face was nothing but of idle calmness as it headed for him, only to be drilled in the skull by Rena's lethally weapon known as her legs.

The elf whipped her forehead after getting rid of the last demon even though she produced no perspiration from the fight. "You haven't gotten rusty at all!"

The redhead rolled his eyes and looked down at his sword. "Is this how..."

Rena smiled wanly. "Pretty much. Even though we all live in the same world, there's still a wall. Those born with inhumane strength or the ability to use magic are separated from those who are just normal humans. We, under Lady El's blessings, are tasked with fighting the demons that spawn over time, killing them or sending them back to the other realm. We may be living among normal humans but once we take our true form, we're literally under the radar. To them, we don't exist."

The knight's eyes widened as the words hit him. He looked at the damage that they have caused. A few craters, courtesy of Rena's Sharp Falls and that one bent lamp post... was that the one he collided with yesterday? "Uh... what about..."

Rena shrugged at the damage. "Like I said, as long as we're in our battle armor, we can't be seen by the naked eye, but the mess we make is another story. However... the damage goes unnoticed since for some odd reason, humans often excuse them as things done by natural disasters."

Well... it did look like a tornado blew past... with a minor quake or two.

"Right..."

"Don't worry about it!" Rena said with another smile. "Nowadays, we have ways of repairing damage that looked suspicious. But other than that, we're in the green!"

Elsword frowned, still pondering what his elven friend mentioned earlier and how it was affecting Rena. Just the fact of you knowing you're living in a world where people don't even believe you - or any of your kin - exist was enough to bring excruciating torment.

"Anyways, enough about that!' Rena chirped, clapping her hands together. "Go back home okay? I'm sure someone is on their way here to inspect the damage so I'm just going to wait here and give them a report. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Wait, who's-"

"Look after Aisha, okay?" The blonde interjected, giving the redhead an ebbing smile. "Make sure she doesn't get hurt and remember not to tell her these things. She needs to stay as far away from this kind of thing as possible. It's too dangerous."

Elsword paused for a moment before nodding, his armor dissipating in sparkles of light, replacing back his school uniform. He left, wondering how Rena has been coping with this. Her smiles always seemed cheerful but he knew that it was a mask.

A mask to hide the perspicacious elf that survived through many good and bad experiences up until now.

* * *

 **Revised rhyming chants thanks to _A-Freeze12th_ ^^**

 **I don't know if I have explained it clearly but I'll have other chances. :p**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Sorry that it took so long to update this story but here it is! :p**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword**

* * *

Raven had to be careful around this new girl. Why does she keep bouncing back when he already told her off many times before? She probably even knows about his disability by now because she just couldn't - He stopped himself before cussing.

 _Calm down._ He told himself mentally as he walked to school. _You have been good at avoiding her these few days, let's keep that up and not let that little -_

"Raven~"

 _F***_ The ebony haired boy found himself uttering a string of curses in his head before ignoring the cheerful call and walked as calm as possible - though his speed increased with a spur.

However... somehow, _just somehow_ , Rena presented herself right in front of him when he was damn sure the blonde was a good distance behind him a second ago.

"Morning Raven!" Rena greeted, seemingly oblivious to how Raven was trying to get away from her just moments ago.

"...Hey." Said boy greeted brusquely back and brushed past her.

The blonde's smile faltered for a moment before it was brought back up again. She was going to go after him if it wasn't for a couple of boys approaching her with a rose or two.

"Miss Rena, please accept these!"

"Even though your beauty is on a whole different level than these wild flowers, but please take them."

"H-here, these flowers are for you!"

Rena blinked one, twice, three times as the array of the same flowers were presented to her. She was slightly baffled. _Weren't... girls supposed to give the gifts...?_

"Um..." The blonde smiled angelically. "Sorry, as much as I love flowers - which I do - I prefer the chirping of birds and vegetarian pizza."

Her words baffled the boys but without an explanation, she spun about a quarter and jogged off with a skip to her step, waving at Raven, who was - for no reason at all - watching the scene played out.

Raven flinched when he realized that he used his escape time to watch instead of actually getting to class without any more bothers. Resuming his - faster than usual - walking speed, he headed for class. Though... it wasn't before long till he realized that they have the same class and what's more, she sat right next to him.

"El dammit." Raven cursed again and slowed down. Why bother hurrying anymore when he won't be getting any peace anytime soon?

"Geez," Rena caught up, wearing a cute pout if Raven ever bothered to notice. "What's the rush? Class doesn't start for the next ten minutes!"

Raven grumbled something and sighed in defeat, albeit he said nothing in return. They just kept walking until they got to class, with him wearing his usual intimidating scowl that scares people off while Rena emitted a friendly aura, greeting everyone in sight.

Their classmates wondered how the two of them get along despite being polar opposites.

The answer?

They don't. Or at least in Raven's case.

* * *

"SACRED EL!" Aisha exclaimed in disbelief, her face flushed in embarrassment as passing students gave the two weird looks. "Elsword, do you not know what this sign means?!"

She pointed at said article at the right corner of doorway.

The boy tilted his head. "Isn't that -"

"It's a sign for _ladies only_!" She cut him off, pounding the door with her hand for emphasis. "This is the door to the girls' restroom for El's sake! You can't follow me beyond this point!"

With that, she stormed in without hearing another word from the redhead.

Aisha leaned against one of the sinks and took deep breathes to calm her frustration. _What is wrong with that guy?! Why does he have to follow me around? Shouldn't he be making friends or something?_

"...think she is?"

Aisha finally realized that there were other people in the restroom with her - two other to be exact. She knew that it was rude to eavesdrop but this wouldn't even be considered eavesdropping right? They're literally a few feet away from where she is!

"What's so special about that nerd anyways? She's too quiet, plain, and geeky! Why does Elsword pay her so much attention?! They even go home together!"

"I bet she blackmailed him so that she can be popular. Poor Elsword, that ugly girl have him wrapped around her fingers!"

"Hah, more like she probably seduced him!"

"Puh-lease! She has no sex appeal and I bet he probably doesn't even like her!"

Aisha kept mum during the entire conversation that she was overhearing. She wasn't sure if she should even let those accusations affect her since she was never treated any better anyways.

The two girls who had been in the stalls came out laughing but they halted when they met the subject of their conversation right in front of them. They looked at each other nervously and quickly rushed out of the restroom, leaving Aisha alone.

Without realizing it, she was already crying.

* * *

On the other side of the door, Elsword was a bit confused as to why Aisha was so flustered and why passing students were staring at him like he grew two heads. Well... going into a place where only females can go into would weird...

It only hit him then.

"Ugh... I'm such an idiot..." He mumbled as he ran a hand down his flushed face. Back where he came from, there were no signs for restrooms because each gender's restroom are separated in different wings of the castle and the royal family have their own - obviously. But here, they're side by side - wait... why the hell are they putting them side by side? Shouldn't they worry that males would go into the female's restroom and cause trouble? There aren't any guards either...

His eye twitched in annoyance. "People are too carefree these days..."

Just when he was about to go into depth about this topic, two girls rushed out. And him being right in front of the entrance scared them half to death.

"S-sorry..." Elsword apologized, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't mean to scare you two."

They blushed and mumbled a 'it's okay'.

Seeing that they just came out of the girl's restroom, Elsword took the opportunity to ask for Aisha since she was taking an awful long time. "Um... have you seen -"

The door open again to reveal a rather depressing Aisha whose eyes were hidden behind her bangs. The two girls, being prudent, quickly excused themselves and scurried off.

Elsword sensed that there was something wrong based on the atmosphere. "Is there something wrong Princess?"

"... Nothing." Aisha replied, turning her head away. "Let's go."

Now he knew that something was wrong. Even though this wasn't the princess that he knew, their behavior patterns are still similar. And what's even more, she didn't even reprimand him when he called her 'Princess.'

He couldn't leave her alone when she's like that.

And so, he caught up to her and took her wrist to spun her around so that they could talk face to face.

"Alright, what's wrong." He all but demanded.

"..."

"Princess...?" Elsword prodded, crouching lower to her a better view of her face. "Is there someth -" He stopped when he was meet with a hollow stare. He knows this look better than anyone. If this happens, then he knew that Aisha have something on her mind but she didn't want to tell anyone.

"It's nothing." She replied coldly before resuming her pace.

He stood still for a moment, lifting a sigh. He remembered instances when Aisha gets like that, she became so hard to approach. She was so stubborn that others gave up trying to get the problem out of her and it always ended up being him as the last to make her cough up. But this time, it's different. He and Aisha aren't as close as before and this Aisha hates his guts for some reason.

There would be no way that she would tell him what's wrong.

 _"Just please do me the favor of looking after Aisha. Okay?"_

But he still have a job to do so he might as well try.

...

Aisha tried to avoid Elsword for the rest of the day. She didn't want to be seen with Elsword anymore. She didn't know why the two girls' talks affected her - she usually just bounce them off - but they did. Especially the last part.

She didn't ask for Elsword's attention nor did she want it. She was the victim, not Elsword. Why did they have to blame everything on her? She was just a normal girl who wants a quiet life. That's all.

"Princess."

Aisha ignored him and continued to pack her stuff so that she could go home. She was in a mood to just go home and shut herself up in her room.

Elsword sighed at her obstinate attitude. He wasn't going to do provoke her and she left him no choice. If he was going to look after her, then there shouldn't be that much of a wall between them. "You're impossible you know that? Just how old are you exactly?"

" _... What?_ "

Score.

"You're acting just like a six year old kid having a tantrum over something insignificant." He said, acting smug by folding his arms across his chest.

"Excuse me?! I am not having a tantrum!"

"Then why are you sulking then?"

"I'm not sulking!"

"You should be more honest with yourself or nobody will like you."

"Hah?!"

"Oh, perhaps you're scared."

"Scared? Why would I be scared?"

At this point of the argument, Elsword gave her what she would consider the most conceited and annoying smirk that she has ever seen. "Scared of being laughed at when you say your problems out loud because they're so petty."

"Why you..." Aisha was near the point where she was going to blow. "You... you're a jerk!"

Elsword all but sighed. Yep, just as he expected. Well, if she was going back to insulting him, then it should be fine now.

Aisha was ready for more comebacks this time but after a while, there was only tense silence. And she wondered why he wasn't attacking.

"... Why aren't you saying anything?" She asked cautiously.

Elsword tore his gaze away from her. "Why should I?"

Aisha looked at him as if he just grew two heads. She didn't understand him. Not one bit. "Because I insulted you! You're supposed to defend yourself by saying you're not!"

He turned back and smirk smugly. "So I'm not?"

"Geh..." Aisha knew she played right into that one. "No - wait, yes! - wait, no! UGH!" She pulled on her two pigtails in frustration. "This is not fair! It's all your fault!"

"..." Elsword remained silent as a shard of memory suddenly played.

 _"You're a jerk!" A purple haired girl declared, teary eyed._

 _"..." Elsword, clad in his armor, didn't respond to her insult. And after a while, she got worried._

 _"... why aren't you responding?"_

 _"If Princess says that I am a jerk, then I am." He stated matter-of-factly while performing a bow._

 _"Wha..." She trailed and suddenly got worked up. "B-but you're not! This isn't how it's supposed to work! You're supposed to..." She paused when Elsword unexpectedly laughed._

 _She was confused for a second before she realized that she had been fooled. "Y-you... that's not fair! You didn't have to keep silent to make fun of me!"_

 _"Hey, if you keep silent, then why can't I?"_

 _"..."_

 _Elsword gave her a pat on the head, a gentle smile on his face. Even though she was mature most of the time, she can be quite childish when it was just the two of them. "Now will you tell me what's wrong?"_

"... Elsword, what the heck are you doing?" Aisha asked, ticked. She hated to be treated like a kid.

Said teen snapped back to reality. He found that his arm had moved in sync unconsciously with the distant memory. He immediately pulled his hand back from patting Aisha's head and looked away. "S-sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

The purplette watched him shifting uncomfortably. She had no idea what he was thinking to have him act like that.

 _Huh... what was I upset about again?_ She realized that during that exchange, she had completely forgotten why she was angry. Did Elsword do that? How did he...

"Princess," Elsword faked a cough, finally breaking the silence between them. "I... if there's anything wrong, you can talk to me. We're friends, right?"

 _... Friend?_ The word was somewhat foreign to her but... it made her smile. She swallowed a gasp and quickly recovered herself. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me 'Princess'?"

He chuckled. "Many times."

Aisha heaved a sigh, finding that her chest felt light all of a sudden. "Geez, I don't even know why I let their conversation get to me."

"... Did someone insult you?" Elsword inquired, a switch seemingly switched on inside of him. "Shall I deal with them?"

"... Elsword, they're girls." She deadpanned, knowing how much of a chivalrous person Elsword is already.

"Oh..."

"What did they say?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Well..." She started to count off with her fingers. "They say that I'm quiet -"

"I find that hard to believe."

She gave Elsword a glare that said 'shut-up-and-listen and continue. "- plain, and geeky, that I blackmailed you into hanging out with me."

She paused for a moment when she noticed the blank look on Elsword's face. She sighed in exasperation, "Never mind. What they said wasn't that interesting anyways."

The redhead just shrugged. He wasn't going to insist. Not when there were terms that he didn't understand just yet. I mean, what the heck is blackmail? Parcels that are black? What are so specially about those?

"Hm..." Aisha hummed as they left their classroom. " I haven't seen Rena all day..."

* * *

That day, Rena have been pestering Raven - or so she planned if something hadn't came up.

"Eh? The student body president want to talk to me?" She clarified the person that told her the information. He nodded in response.

"Um..." She looked around and found that Raven didn't even wait like she told him to. She sighed in defeat and asked the guy to lead the way. She was lead to the council room and her guide excused himself afterwards.

Rena slide open the door while saying, "Excuse me."

"Hello." came the greeting of the silver haired president. "Are you Rena Lire?"

The blonde blinked several times before she finally register the familiarity of Eve's magic signature. "Are you..."

"I am Eve Silvia, a descendant of the race known as Nasods from the Imperial era." She gave Rena a polite bow. "it is a pleasure to meet a veteran such as yourself."

The elf seem to be still processing the information to respond.

Nasods? They were the race that was said to be so advanced in technology that they were able to create strong enough engines that came lift up an entire island? Actually, it wasn't that unbelievable. She had seen and visited the floating island and it was just magnificent. Because of their advanced knowledge, they were often sought after. And so, they decided to isolate themselves upon the island of Altera that they made afloat. And because they're blessed with longevity by birth, their numbers are small.

She have also heard of their ability to manipulate machines at their will because they were all born with the power of technopathy - that only increase them as targets of possession by others. Because of their abilities and their small populations, they were said to have died out long ago. But there were rumors of some still in existence. It was because of them that the modern world have the technology that they have today.

And what's more, her last name... "Silvia? As in the surname of the Nasod Royal Family?"

"You are well informed."

"No way." _So the rumors are true..._

"May I ask why do you find that difficult to believe?"

"Ah, no," Rena responded hastily, waving her hands back and forth. "Just surprised. I didn't expect one of the Nasod to summon me. The ones I met so far in the past several centuries are quite discreet if I may say."

"You have met others?"

"Just two," She answered. "Apple and Proto, do you know them?"

Eve nodded. "They're my mentors from time to time but I have not seen them for a while."

"Oh, that's 'cause they're helping me out." Rena answered sheepishly. "I think you may have noticed but there has been an increased in demon spawns recently so I need more Regulators to be on patrol."

'I see..." The silverette mused. "Which brings me to the topic I wish to discuss with you."

Rena giggled. "You don't have to be so formal!"

The Nasod tilt her head in confusion. "I apologize but I only know formal speech."

"Aw, you're so cute~ Can I hug you?"

"Perhaps some other time." Eve replied back bluntly. "I requested your presence because I was curious."

"About...?"

"Is the increase in demon spawns correspondent to the sudden appearance of Elsword Seighart?"

"Ah... well... Um," Rena struggled to find words to explain. "It's both yes and no. But if I tell you, you might get have to get involve."

"As it is, I am already involved." Eve answered without a second thought. Her calculating eyes met with Rena's surprised ones. "Nasods are the symbol of knowledge and advancement and so we are born in possession of knowledge. However, there is a trait that is only passed down through the royal bloodline. You should know, should you not?"

There was a moment of silence as Rena nodded seriously at the Nasod. "I been told that each generation is born with the knowledge of the previous one."

"Correct. My mind has been expanding ever since the beginning of my race." Eve continued. "So tell me, the knight frozen in time, is it him?"

Somehow, the atmosphere became heavy. "... Yes."

* * *

"Ah!" Aisha stopped when she caught a glimpse of something from one of the classrooms. "It's Rena!"

Elsword looked through the window and indeed, Rena was in their talking to a silver haired girl. However, he can tell by the atmosphere between them that they were discussing something important.

If he knew Rena, then Rena rarely gets serious and not with just anyone either. He tried to make a list of possibilities who who the other girl was when said person directed her golden orbs right at him and Aisha.

"I wonder why Rena is talking to the student president..." Aisha mused.

"Hey you two! I haven't seen you all day!" Rena popped out from the classroom with a cheerful smile. If one hadn't seen her earlier, they would think that nothing happened.

"Oh and I would like you to meet my new friend!" She pulled Eve out of the classroom and placed her in front of her as if showing her off. "Meet Eve and Eve, meet Elsword and Aisha!"

"H-hello..." Aisha greeted, slightly shocked that Rena managed to befriend the Ice Queen.

"A pleasure to meet you two," Eve returned back.

Upon hearing Eve's monotonic voice, Aisha really couldn't help but think that she's an android.

"Oh! How about all of us go to some place to hang out?" Rena suggested all of a sudden. "None of us have anything to do right? Right?"

"... Hang out?" Aisha parroted. She never really hang out with other people before unless it was for a group assignment so she wasn't sure it was a good idea. "Um... I don't think -"

"Then it's decided!" Rena announced without hearing Aisha out.

"Wait -"

"Lets go!" And with that Rena pushed the three towards the exit on their very first friendly outing.

* * *

 **Ah... I feel like my writing is getting worse and worse...**

 **On another note, Nasods are now consider humans born with supernatural abilities =w=b ... Okay, not exactly humans but they do have living organs.**


End file.
